A PILOT study to assess free treatment for the poor in Delhi’s private hospitals, conducted by Oxfam, revealed that most such hospitals are not offering the mandatory free treatment to poor.   The study, held in collaboration with a Delhi-based NGO Sama, was based on the findings of interviews with administrative and finance department officials at nine private hospitals, built on subsidised land obtained from the government. As per a Delhi High Court...

-The Times of India   The public health department has sought chief minister Prithviraj Chavan's intervention to introduce stringent clauses against medicos who complete their education from state-run or civic hospitals but refuse to serve the mandatory one-year rural stint.  According to an official, the government was considering not issuing medical registration certificates--which is mandatory for higher studies, pursuing job in any hospital or even for starting a dispensary of their own-to students...

-The Hindu   Making no reference to the month-long conditional “ceasefire offer” from the West Bengal leadership of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday gave a seven-day deadline to the Left Wing Extremists in the Jangalmahal region on her offer of “negotiations if you give up your arms.” During her second visit to the Maoist-affected Jangalmahal region after assuming charge as Chief Minister, Ms. Banerjee claimed that...

The popular outrage over the official definition of poverty at abysmally low levels of daily income, of Rs 26 in rural areas and Rs 32 in urban areas, assumes the state will deny basic services to a household whose income is above the figure. This is totally erroneous. There is no mechanism in the hands of the government to ascertain income or expenditure to identify the 'poor' on the ground. The...

An expert panel appointed by the Centre has found to its horror that fluorosis has reached epidemic proportions in Garhwa as a result of the Jharkhand government’s negligence and failure to check the alarming spread of the disease. The team, appointed by the Union ministry of drinking water and sanitation, visited the district last month and found men, women and children of all ages with deformities due to fluoride poisoning from...